Kyle Shanahan made abundantly clear that Jimmy Garoppolo will not be returning to the San Francisco 49ers.
Shanahan said he could see no scenario in which Garoppolo would return this offseason. It was a comment that, while not necessarily surprising in substance, was a bit harsh in tone after Garoppolo’s mostly successful time with the 49ers.
Tim Kawakami of The Athletic reported that there was some internal friction between the two leading up to the NFC championship game.
He joined KNBR on Thursday night and expanded on that report a bit.
While he prefaced most of what he said as him “supposing” how things went down, he added that no one around the 49ers shot down those suppositions when he offered them.
“Just think of the big picture here,” Kawakami said. “They saved the roster spot for him. They didn’t have to. They were waiting for him. They didn’t say he actually will be back, but they saved the roster spot for him. They could have activated somebody else. And you look back into history, he’s a guy who was good but continuously got hurt, and then they rely on him and he gets hurt, and then they rely on him and he gets hurt. I think that kind of built up.”
The core of the issue, Kawakami thinks, is that lack of availability. Shanahan initially wanted Kirk Cousins to be his quarterback, but couldn’t get him. He was talked into Garoppolo and had to be convinced again, eventually sticking with him.
From the outset, it wasn’t a perfect marriage, with Kawakami pointing to their personalities being a bit different.
The continued stretch of injuries and Garoppolo not being available in a game where the 49ers desperately could have used him was enough for Shanahan, Kawkami thinks:
It just kind of lasted a year longer than everybody thought it would. They went back to him and then he got hurt again and then when they maybe were hoping that he’d be the backup and god, it would have helped them if he was the backup, he’s not available and they go to Josh Johnson. If you just add it all up like that…
It’s just more like [from Shanahan’s perspective], ‘can you be available?’
And I think Jimmy said, ‘you know, it’s not gonna happen’ and Kyle’s like ‘goddammit, like I could have had a quarterback here that really would have helped us win that game and you’re not available,’ as has happened throughout your 49ers career.
I’m just supposing, again, but again, me supposing it has not been knocked down by anybody, and there are people who will reach out and knock it down.”
Kawakami noted it was no coincidence that Garoppolo got out of dodge before media arrived on locker room clean out day, and Shanahan’s tone was terse.
A marriage that was never on perfect footing from the start finally seems truly over.
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